Let's talk about Hunts - a detailed rundown of their assumed mechanics

Stormblood is upon us, and we've been busy.

We have far too little data to start talking about spawn timers just yet, but everything A-rank wise seems to have gone the way of 4-6 hour respawns again, just like in Heavensward. S ranks are a mystery for when you can begin spawning, but assume their timers to be the same a or equal to what we've got for Heavensward.

The findings
All hunt marks that are not B ranks have some basic rules to them. First, the basics. When a hunt mark dies, a timer begins ticking. All marks have a timer unique to themselves and they all tick with the server clock. The time since the hunt mark died will be your respawn time. They all have a minimum respawn time and a random variation of time in addition to that minimum spawn time. All of them have in addition to this a maximum respawn time, and S ranks have in addition to the maximum respawn time a condition that needs to be met once the respawn duration is up. A rank hunt marks have a fairly short respawn duration, going from 3 hours to 4 hours, with maximum respawns ranging from 4 to 6 hours. A rank hunt marks are special in how they will instantly spawn should they not have spawned within their maximum respawn timeframe yet. S rank hunt marks will not spawn until their spawn condition is triggered, even when their maximum respawn time has passed long ago. Note that not all S rank spawn triggers are performed by players, some are controlled by the server and you may stumble upon one in the wild.

Previously we thought there was "amount of times a condition was met" or a "threshold that had to be met". Offhand comments made to Japanese community members by development team members in past Japanese events indicate that there is no such thing, and that there simply are timeframes and conditions that need to be met. We have since gathered the maximum and minimum timeframes that have been observed and compiled this information.

The A ranks
Let's reiterate on the findings. A rank hunt marks have a fixed minimum spawn time, a random variation of time in addition to that minimum spawn time and a maximum respawn time. At the maximum respawn time, they will instantly show up in the world. They can of course show up before that, but this is a randomly assigned timeframe, so once the minimum respawn time has passed there's a timeframe in which the A rank hunt mark can spawn again, which is 60 minutes for A Realm Reborn A rank hunt marks and 120 minutes for Heavensward and Stormblood A rank hunt marks. In A Realm Reborn, the individual A ranks hunt marks are believed to have varied spawn timers due to their respawn frequency, while in Heavensward and Stormblood they all seem to have a shared respawn minimum and maximum.

The S ranks
The S rank hunt marks are a different kind of beast. They have a long minimum respawn, often for multiple days. They are similar to A ranks in how they have a minimum and maximum respawn time with a random time variation, but require in addition to that there to be a condition met for each of them before they will spawn. Some of them are completely out of players' hands and based around which day of the month, time of the day, or even how the weather has been recently. In addition, their respawn timers are different after server maintenance, with their respawn timer beginning the moment your server started up again. But that's OK; we've figured them all out, so let's have a look.

Zone: The Ruby SeaHunt target: OkinaSpawn condition: Spawns the moment the moon is full once the spawn timer is up. Because of spawn timers being random, will sometimes spend forever before it spawns.Respawn cooldown: Insufficient dataMaximum respawn time: Insufficient dataRespawn cooldown after maintenance: Insufficient dataMaximum respawn time after maintenance: Insufficient data

Zone: YanxiaHunt target: GammaSpawn condition: With the minion Toy Alexander summoned, run or fly close to or on spawn locations throughout Yanxia when it's dark out in the game, which is from 4pm to 4am Eorzean Time. The sky begins to darken at 4pm, and sunset begins at 6pm Eorzean Time. The game begins to light up again at 4am and sunrise is at 6am.Respawn cooldown: Insufficient dataMaximum respawn time: Insufficient dataRespawn cooldown after maintenance: Insufficient dataMaximum respawn time after maintenance: Insufficient data

Zone: The Azim SteppeHunt target: OrghanaSpawn condition: Spawned by successfully clearing the FATE "Not just a Tribute at around X:12 Y:14. Still unknown whether this has to be chain cleared or not.Respawn cooldown: Insufficient dataMaximum respawn time: Insufficient dataRespawn cooldown after maintenance: Insufficient dataMaximum respawn time after maintenance: Insufficient data

Zone: The LochsHunt target: Salt and LightSpawn condition: Toss items from your inventory. If you have a stack of items, split it and toss items one by one. Recommended to not toss away a fortune while doing this, keep your littering to a minimum and come back once someone has cleaned up after you or something.Respawn cooldown: Insufficient dataMaximum respawn time: Insufficient dataRespawn cooldown after maintenance: Insufficient dataMaximum respawn time after maintenance: Insufficient data

Heavensward

Zone: Coerthas Western HighlandsHunt target: Kaiser BehemothSpawn condition: With the minion Behemoth Heir summoned, run or fly close to or on spawn locations throughout Coerthas Western Highlands.Respawn cooldown: 80 hoursMaximum respawn time: 132 hoursRespawn cooldown after maintenance: 50 hoursMaximum respawn time after maintenance: 80 hours

Zone: The Sea of CloudsHunt target: Bird of ParadiseSpawn condition: Spawned by allowing the B rank hunt mark Squonk cast Chirp. Squonk only spawns in the southern part of the map, refer to the maps in the top of this post for where to look for it.Respawn cooldown: 80 hoursMaximum respawn time: 132 hoursRespawn cooldown after maintenance: 50 hoursMaximum respawn time after maintenance: 80 hours

Zone: Lower La NosceaHunt target: CroakadileSpawn condition: Linked to the current state of the moon. There are four days on the Eorzea calendar where the moon is in a full moon state, and Croakadile will spawn on the first day of full moon after 5 PM Eorzean time. Because of the 50 hour cooldown, Croakadile will skip every other month as long as he spawned in the previous month.Respawn cooldown: 50 hoursMaximum respawn time: 50 hoursRespawn cooldown after maintenance: 30 hoursMaximum respawn time after maintenance: 30 hours

Zone: Eastern La NosceaHunt target: The GarlokSpawn condition: Linked to the weather. After the minimum respawn time is up, and once the zone's weather condition is Showers/Rain, the next 200 minutes have to NOT be Rain or Showers for The Garlok to spawn. The 200 minute timeframe resets if it Rains or Showers again within those 200 minutes. The previously mentioned random time variation counts for The Garlok, so even if the 200 minute timeframe matches, your server can be unlucky with its randomly assigned time variation and not get a spawn.Respawn cooldown: 42 hoursMaximum respawn time: 48 hoursRespawn cooldown after maintenance: 21 hoursMaximum respawn time after maintenance: 29 hours

Zone: Upper La NosceaHunt target: NandiSpawn condition: Run close to or on spawn locations throughout Upper La Noscea with a minion summoned. See this example. Note that it is possible to summon a minion and then get on a mount and run around mounted.Respawn cooldown: 47 hoursMaximum respawn time: 53 hoursRespawn cooldown after maintenance: 28 hoursMaximum respawn time after maintenance: 32 hours

Zone: South ShroudHunt target: MindflayerSpawn condition: Linked to the current state of the moon. There are four days on the Eorzea calendar where the moon is in a new moon state. Mindflayer will spawn after midnight on the second day of new moon.Respawn cooldown: 50 hoursMaximum respawn time: 50 hoursRespawn cooldown after maintenance: 30 hoursMaximum respawn time after maintenance: 30 hours

Zone: Western ThanalanHunt target: Zona SeekerSpawn condition: Catch a Glimmerscale. Requires at least 300 Gathering, can be caught at any time of the day as long as the weather condition is Clear Skies or Sunshine.Respawn cooldown: 58 hoursMaximum respawn time: 68 hoursRespawn cooldown after maintenance: 35 hoursMaximum respawn time after maintenance: 41 hours

Zone: Central ThanalanHunt target: BrontesSpawn condition: Eat a piece of consumable food near a spawn location in the zone. Any place you have seen any of the S, A or B rank hunt marks spawn count.Respawn cooldown: 64 hoursMaximum respawn time: 78 hoursRespawn cooldown after maintenance: 40 hoursMaximum respawn time after maintenance: 46 hours

Zone: Southern ThanalanHunt target: NunyunuwiSpawn condition: Linked to the repeated completion of FATEs over a period of time. Do not let a single FATE fail or expire for 60 minutes.Respawn cooldown: 44 hoursMaximum respawn time: 54 hoursRespawn cooldown after maintenance: 26 hoursMaximum respawn time after maintenance: 34 hours

Zone: Northern ThanalanHunt target: MinhocaoSpawn condition: Linked to the acquisition of Earth Crystals by people in the zone. Drops from Earth Sprites, both existing naturally in the world and from the ones that massively spawn during the FATE 'Core Blimey'.Respawn cooldown: 57 hoursMaximum respawn time: 63 hoursRespawn cooldown after maintenance: 34 hoursMaximum respawn time after maintenance: 41 hours

Zone: Mor DhonaHunt target: Agrippa the MightySpawn condition: Open the treasure coffer of a Peisteskin treasure map somewhere in Mor Dhona. Does not count for Deciphering maps, you have to open the treasure coffer after beating the monsters summoned by the map.Respawn cooldown: 60 hoursMaximum respawn time: 84 hoursRespawn cooldown after maintenance: 36 hoursMaximum respawn time after maintenance: 50 hours

08-07-2014, 07:53 AM

Mapleleaf

Goodnight Sweet Prince

08-07-2014, 07:54 AM

Jakeson

I just run around till I see one :-/

08-07-2014, 07:59 AM

Sneyra

Not sure if I can trust this information. Could be just a scam.

08-07-2014, 08:10 AM

Raven_Reborn

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sneyra

Not sure if I can trust this information. Could be just a scam.

I've been joining these guys on Teamspeak for hunts.. this guy KNOWS what he's talking about. his data is on point.

08-07-2014, 08:14 AM

faq

I fully endorse this message.

08-07-2014, 08:14 AM

kiraan

<3 Vandes

This guy can tell you at the exact time when an S rank will pop, Yeah he's that good :)

08-07-2014, 08:18 AM

heheesyo

These theories are very similar to the ones we've formed on gilgamesh. In upper la noscea we have a minion walk where tens to hundreds of people walk the paths in front of bronze lake with their minions. Not sure if the walking part helps or if it's just the minion. Naysayers.. I'm close to my s rank achievement and fully sand of timed out solely from hunts and haven't even put an ungodly amount of time into it. Some servers just cracked the hunts while others, apparently, got left behind.

08-07-2014, 09:04 AM

Aresaka

Can confirm Mindflayer spawns on the second night (or has a chance each night) of a new moon. I've always suicided past 12am to a fate and he spawns within minutes afterwards, although this could be purely circumstantial. New Moon is DEFINITELY the major part of it. Most often S rank spawned on Midgard.